Acts as a source of income for musician’s compositions
Sets up the relationship between musicians and record companies
Relationship between Musicians and Record Companies
Can be good or bad depending on the quality of music written
Bad situation:
i. up and coming artists are desperate to get signed
ii. therefore, they are more willing to sign contracts that give record companies all of the rights, leaving artists almost no royalty rate
iii. royalty rate: payment to the holder of a resource in exchange for the right to use their property
Example:
In 1994, Metallica sued record company Elektra for not giving them more benefits after they had established themselves as an established act. Lars Ulrich was quoted as saying, "to this day, we're still operating under the same contract we had with those guys in 1984, and getting the same royalty rate" http://www.exposay.com/celebrity-photos/lars-ulrich-mtvicon-metallica-arrivals-0LonQP.jpg
Good situation:
i. More established musicians get full creative control over their music
ii. Because of this, record companies are not fully involved in the recording process because they trust that specific artist
iii. Because they have creative control, artists get more of a royalty rate
Example:
Dave Matthews Band takes advantage of online radio stations such as Pandora to advertise their new album, allowing listeners to listen for free. They are allowed to do this because they make more money off of their album sales, showing that they have a high royalty rate, meaning that they have established themselves as an established act.
Music Piracy:
Initial Facts:
Songs have two copyrights. One by the owner of the song and by the recording company.
Copyright owners are the only ones with the power to reproduce, distribute copies or perform the work.
Sharing music from person to person is also illegal. Once a person purchases a piece of music, they are free to transfer to CD's, Mp3's, etc. as long as it is only being used by them. If they share this music with another person, even if it's a family member, it becomes illegal.
The systems of Limewire, Bearshare, Kazaa, etc. are completely legal, but actually accessing them and downloading music, videos, etc from them is illegal.
Music pirates can easily be caught through monitoring services/government officials who watch internet usage. The high bandwidth is recognized and then the IP address of the computer and then the owner is tracked down.
After being caught, offenders can get get extremely large fines and years of jail time for their punishment.
To put it simply: Online downloading of music is illegal. Free Online Radio Stations www.pandora.com www.last.fm
Bad situation:
i. up and coming artists are desperate to get signed
ii. therefore, they are more willing to sign contracts that give record companies all of the rights, leaving artists almost no royalty rate
iii. royalty rate: payment to the holder of a resource in exchange for the right to use their property
Example:
In 1994, Metallica sued record company Elektra for not giving them more benefits after they had established themselves as an established act. Lars Ulrich was quoted as saying, "to this day, we're still operating under the same contract we had with those guys in 1984, and getting the same royalty rate"
http://www.exposay.com/celebrity-photos/lars-ulrich-mtvicon-metallica-arrivals-0LonQP.jpg
Good situation:
i. More established musicians get full creative control over their music
ii. Because of this, record companies are not fully involved in the recording process because they trust that specific artist
iii. Because they have creative control, artists get more of a royalty rate
Example:
Dave Matthews Band takes advantage of online radio stations such as Pandora to advertise their new album, allowing listeners to listen for free. They are allowed to do this because they make more money off of their album sales, showing that they have a high royalty rate, meaning that they have established themselves as an established act.
Music Piracy:
Initial Facts:
To put it simply:
Online downloading of music is illegal.
Free Online Radio Stations
www.pandora.com
www.last.fm
Music Sharing Almost Legal in Canada
The Future of Music File Sharing.docx